THEME: "ARE YOU CHICKEN?" (55A: Question to a scaredy-cat ... to which the final parts of 20-, 32- and 42-Across would answer "Yes!") — chicken formats:
Theme answers:
LAS VEGAS STRIP (20A: Main drag through Sin City)
GOLD NUGGET (32A: Valuable bit in a prospector's pan)
GOALTENDER (42A: Hockey player who typically plays the entire game)
Word of the Day: SADIE Jones (9D: British novelist Jones) —
Sadie Jones (born 1967) is an English writer and novelist best known for her award-winning debut novel, The Outcast (2008). [...] The Outcast was short-listed for the 2008 Orange Prize. It was a Sunday Times Number 1 Bestseller and won the Best First Novel in the Costa Book Awards of 2008. It has been translated into twelve languages and sold more than 500,000 copies. [...] The Outcast is the debut novel by British author Sadie Jones, published in 2007 by Chatto & Windus. In 2008, it won the Costa Book Award for First Novel and was shortlisted for the 2008 Women's Prize for Fiction. In 2015, it was adapted for television.
• • •
Something about the question "ARE YOU CHICKEN?" just doesn't land right in my ears. I can hear someone accusing another person of being a chicken, complete with chicken sounds on the back end ("bwok bwok bwok bwok bwok!")? Maybe I can hear someone saying, "What's the matter? You chicken" That sounds rightish. But just "ARE YOU CHICKEN?" doesn't quite sound like a thing someone would ask. Not precisely. But what I love about the question is how perfect a thing it is to ask the crazy pressed-form food shapes in question. "ARE YOU CHICKEN? Because you do not look like chicken." Nugget, tender, strip, these are all processed abominations that make the chicken almost unrecognizable as such (tasty, but severely deformed). The "strip" is closest to chickenness, I think. I don't really know what the difference between a tender and a strip is, actually. A nugget, that I know. I used to eat them by the dozen (the 20-pack, actually) when I was in high school. Whatever happens between bird and nugget is completely disfiguring. Delicious, perhaps, but disfiguring. So much so that if you came from a part of the world with no strip / tender / nugget technology, you might in fact ask the fried bit of brownness in your hand, "ARE YOU CHICKEN?" So I like the revealer question, as a revealer phrase, even if it seems A TAD contrived as an actual human question.
Otherwise the grid is AWASH in short stuff (as often happens with 78-worders—the maximum allowable word count). Most of it is, like many molded and fried chicken products, merely bland, not particularly offensive. The one thing the grid has going for it is a sizable assortment of longer Down answers. They really give the grid some much-needed color today. You get six really solid 7+-letter answers. There's not a one I don't actively like. Solving Downs-only, I had a little "ooh, nice" moment when I figured out my first long Down, DIVVIED UP. There's something about the double-"V" of DIVVIED that is inherently appealing.
You can see how, from here, I was able to infer LAS VEGAS at the front end of the first themer. From that "G" I got GURU (21D: Sanskrit word for "teacher") and from the "A" I got SAGAS (5D: Long stories) and from the "S" I got ERASE (6D: Wipe clean), and while I didn't get STRIP immediately (though I probably should have), I only needed the "S" from the end of ACTS and the "R" from the gimme RUM (22D: "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of ___") to get STRIP eventually. Sadly, getting STRIP didn't help me with that NE corner, which remained incomplete until the very end. Despite using a CLIPBOARD on a regular basis (mostly for the puzzles I print out, esp. the cryptics I solve with my wife every cocktail hour (5pm)), I couldn't get it from the clue alone (10D: Portable writing surface). As for SADIE Jones, I've never heard of her. Really odd choice of clue for a Monday. From what I can tell, she is primarily known for one popular novel eighteen years ago. The Beatle's "Sexy SADIE" or SADIE Sink from Stranger Things are far more Mondayish SADIEs than this British novelist. But the puzzle's so easy overall that throwing in a less widely known SADIE like this doesn't really affect the overall solve much. I wish the clue had done more to tell us anything about her. Even her most famous title would've been helpful. Then I could at least say I learned something. But no matter. SADIE Jones is my Word of the Day, so technically I have learned something.
Bullets:
42D: Period before starting more school (GAP YEAR) — a solid 7. SHOTPUT too (8D: Track-and-field event with a 16-pound ball). It's always nice when there's a lot of longer non-thematic stuff and it's strong.
53D: Outdoor John? (DEERE) — because John DEERE makes farming equipment, which you use ... outdoors. Yeah, that must be it. My first thought for [Outdoor John?], which I still like best despite its making no sense: ELTON. He did do a few famous "outdoor" concerts.
[Central Park, 1980]
56D: Oceanic predator (ORCA) — the one bit of "crosswordese" that I never get tired of. Love ORCAs. More ORCAs. Any time I hear about ORCAs "attacking" yachts or other watercraft (as has happened many times off the coast of France and the Iberian Peninsula in recent years), I think "good for them." I mean, I hope no humans are hurt, but any time animals show utter disrespect for human property, I feel a certain respect. It's their world. And it's not like we've respected that world, exactly. So ... if they want to toss our luxury vessels around like a hackysack, so be it. I like this cetologist's measured, existential perspective on the boat destruction—the ORCAs aren't "attacking," they're merely "interacting" with the vessels as part of their educational "enrichment." Because the sea is "a very boring place":
THEME: "Who's in Charge Here?" — an UNDERCOVER BOSS theme (115A: Hit reality TV series suggested by this puzzle's groups of circled letters): words for "boss" are hidden ("undercover") in circled squares inside longer answers:
Theme answers:
ELASTIC HAIR TIE (23A: Scrunchie, e.g.)
PRINCE OF WALES (39A: Title for William beginning in 2022)
THE AD COUNCIL (45A: Nonprofit group behind Smokey Bear and McGruff the Crime Dog)
DIRECT ORDER (67A: Explicit command)
SHOCKING PINK (87A: Bright shade similar to magenta)
LIFE BEFORE MAN (96A: Margaret Atwood novel with a love triangle involving a paleontologist)
Word of the Day: Gian Lorenzo BERNINI (19A: "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa" sculptor) —
As one scholar has commented, "What Shakespeare is to drama, Bernini may be to sculpture: the first pan-European sculptor whose name is instantaneously identifiable with a particular manner and vision, and whose influence was inordinately powerful ..." In addition, he was a painter (mostly small canvases in oil) and a man of the theatre: he wrote, directed and acted in plays (mostly Carnival satires), for which he designed stage sets and theatrical machinery. He produced designs as well for a wide variety of decorative art objects including lamps, tables, mirrors, and even coaches.
As an architect and city planner, he designed secular buildings, churches, chapels, and public squares, as well as massive works combining both architecture and sculpture, especially elaborate public fountains and funerary monuments and a whole series of temporary structures (in stucco and wood) for funerals and festivals. His broad technical versatility, boundless compositional inventiveness and sheer skill in manipulating marble ensured that he would be considered a worthy successor of Michelangelo, far outshining other sculptors of his generation. (wikipedia)
• • •
A rather tepid hidden-word theme. The hidden words aren't really "hidden" (or "undercover") if you highlight them with circles. They would be "undercover" ... but the circles make them overcover. Not all of these "boss" words are great. CEO is fine as a word for boss, but it is not an interesting term to "hide" in a longer answer. Way too short. Just gets lost in the longer answer. And HEAD, meh. That doesn't really say "boss" without some kind of qualifier. Department HEAD or something like that. Worst of all, from a pure elegance-of-execution standpoint, the "hidden words" repeatedly fail to touch all the words in their respective answers. Again and again, whole words in the theme answers are just hung out to dry, no "hidden word" involvement. The TIE in ELASTIC HAIR TIE, the WALES in PRINCE OF WALES, the COUNCIL in THE AD COUNCIL, the LIFE in LIFE BEFORE MAN. The most beautiful execution of the theme comes with SHOCKING PINK—solid name for "boss" (crime boss, to be specific), perfectly "hidden" across both words of the theme-answer phrase. Very nice. No other themer is anywhere close to that nice. Plus, it's hard to love a puzzle with THE AD COUNCIL (??) as an answer, or (frankly) a reality TV show as the revealer. Reality TV is overwhelmingly garbage. It's the world our illustrious president came out of (I swear to god I just typed "prison" instead of "president," weird ...). But let's leave aside my prejudice against the genre. Let's say UNDERCOVER BOSS is a great show and a wonderful asset for any crossword grid ... all the aforementioned thematic shortcomings still stand. The basic concept was fairly simplistic to begin with, and the execution just came up short.
There was some fun to be had in the non-thematic parts of the puzzle. "ARE WE DONE?" is lovely, and I quite enjoyed MOONSHINE (50D: Drink from a tub?), though I'm not sure about the tub part. Is the tub a reference to "bathtub gin?" I don't think MOONSHINE and "bathtub gin" are exactly the same thing. They're both homemade spirits, but "gin" tends to have botanicals added. Still, "bathtub gin" is a kind of generalized term for home-distilled alcohol, which MOONSHINE is, so ... close enough, I guess. If the "tub" in 50D: Drink from a tub? refers to something else, one of you will tell me. I'm always happy to encounter liquor in my crossword, even if it's something I likely wouldn't drink myself (such as MOONSHINE).
[77A: 1987 Dreyfuss/DeVito comedy]
There are three UPs in this grid, which is probably at least one too many, even for a Sunday-sized grid (ANTE UP, ROLL UP, EASE UP). I think I've seen as many as four in Sunday grids before. If there are so many that I notice (or if, god forbid, two of the UPs are crossing), then that's probably too many. The grid overall seemed solid enough, with only a few answers making me balk or wince. FANVID was probably the ugliest thing, to my ear/eye. I refuse to believe in it. Sometimes you have to treat "words" like fictional creatures and just refuse to believe. FANVID is a horrid-looking little piece of fill. I'm sure there are fan videos, but FANVID, barf (unsurprisingly, it's a debut). Fan culture (esp. online fan culture) tends to be insular and putrid, so ... pass. Unfortunately, looking up FANVID has led me to discover the term "vidding," which ... I can't bring myself to go into. You can read about it here. Oh lord ... and now I've discovered YOUTUBE POOP (abbr. YTP, in case any constructor out there is interested in absolutely ruining one of their grids). See, this is why you should never look things up. You're better off not knowing.
I'm not sure I get why a COLD is a [Small bug?]. Is it because the virus is literally small? I mean, compared to, say, insects, or a rabbit or a microwave or a yacht or something? Bizarre. I get that ACNE can be found on your face, and it's hard (difficult?) to deal with (?), or maybe it's physically hard, but still, [Something hard to face?] doesn't seem like an apt description, even allowing for "?" leeway. There weren't many places I struggled today. Not for long, anyway. I confused the [Place for a shoelace] (EYELET) with the tip of a shoelace (AIGLET). I would never ever have thought of PEAR as a wood unless the crossword forced me to (as it did today) (30A: Fine-grained wood in some woodwind instruments). I misremembered BERNINI as BELLINI (which is a drink). SCIENCE was hard for me as clued (12D: Prestigious academic journal since 1880). The center of the grid gets a little ugly (ECIGS alongside ERM), but it didn't give me any trouble. I didn't know the Atwood title—that was probably the biggest hold-up for me, as it denied me traction in the SW (where I was already struggling with the erroneous AIGLET). But no part of this puzzle was particularly tough. It was mostly on the easy side of normal.
[44A: Money in rock 'n' roll]
["I feel a hunger. It's a hunger." Truly one of the greatest opening lyrics of all time]
Side note: my spelling and grammar check would like a word with Mr. Money ...
["I feel hungry. I am hungry" — yeah, that's much better]
Bullets:
35A: Disney heroine based on New Orleans chef Leah Chase (TIANA) — where Disney princesses are concerned, I have memorized a few common names that come up in crosswords a lot (MOANA, ELSA, TIANA), but I know almost nothing about them. I can barely name the movie TIANA is from (something about a frog? can that be right? ... [looks it up] ... ha, it's true, ThePrincess and the Frog!). Anyway, I certainly had no idea the character was based on a New Orleans chef. Leah Chase was a highly honored chef and TV personality known as The Queen of Creole Cuisine. "Her restaurant, Dooky Chase, was known as a gathering place during the 1960s among many who participated in the Civil Rights Movement, and was known as a gallery due to its extensive African-American art collection. In 2018 it was named one of the 40 most important restaurants of the past 40 years by Food & Wine." (wikipedia).
9D: Werewolf on TV's "Wednesday" (ENID) — pfffffffft I know that "Wednesday" exists and is one of Netflix's more popular shows. Isn't that enough? Are you gonna make me go two three four deep on the character roster? Is "Wednesday" the new Star Wars? (been a few days since we've seen a Star Wars reference, btw—amazed we got through a Sunday-sized grid today without one, good job, everyone).
["I write in my voice! It's my truth! It's what my followers love!" LOL OK, maybe I love ENID.]
4D: Trouble with Z's? (INSOMNIA) — once again, I understand the clue, but I don't get what kind of word play the clue is aiming for. What is "Trouble with Z's" supposed to evoke? Everyone knows that "Z's" refers to sleep (most commonly in the phrase "catch some Z's"), but what is the clue doing with its "?"? What pun is being made? You've just replaced "sleep" with "Z's"? Why? I don't know why.
69D: "Uhh ..." to Brits ("ERM ...")— to Brits!? Isn't it bad enough we have to deal with all of our own hesitation sounds, your UHS and your ERS and your UMS? Do we need imports?
96D: Set of nine dancing in "The 12 Days of Christmas" (LADIES) — gah, I tried to get this song going in my head but I was all over the place and could not retrieve the LADIES. There were Lords a-Leapin' and Maids a-Milkin' and Pipers Piping and Drummers Drumming and Five. Gold. Rings. But everything was coming to me out of order. LADIES is such a straightforward word, I couldn't find it. Add this to my SW woes. LIFE BEFORE MAN, EYELET-not-AIGLET, and this.
51D: Concert broadcast that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2025, with "The" (OPRY) — needed a cross or two to get this one. I'm not used to seeing OPRY without "Grand Ole" attached.
[♫❤️ Iris Dement ❤️♫]
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
P.S. big thank-you to the reader who saw that I enjoyed Lagavulin and so sent me ... Lagavulin. Is it that easy? Do I just have to say things I like and they materialize? Chocolate chip cookies! Vintage paperbacks! Labrador retriever puppy!
P.P.S. Super Bowl today, which means only one thing to me—it's baseball season! Wearing a new shirt to get me in the mood:
A long time ago, I was solving this puzzle and got stuck at an unguessable (to me) crossing: N. C. WYETH crossing NATICK at the "N"—I knew WYETH but forgot his initials, and NATICK ... is a suburb of Boston that I had no hope of knowing. It was clued as someplace the Boston Marathon runs through (???). Anyway, NATICK— the more obscure name in that crossing—became shorthand for an unguessable cross, esp. where the cross involves two proper nouns, neither of which is exceedingly well known. NATICK took hold as crossword slang, and the term can now be both noun ("I had a NATICK in the SW corner...") or verb ("I got NATICKED by 50A / 34D!")
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